Raj
Kapoor - The showman of Hindi cinema, Raj Kapoor is rightly
described as a megastar, producer, director and actor. Through dint of
his merit and potential, Raj Kapoor carved out a special place for
himself in Indian cinema. His innings in Bollywood began as a clapper
boy. At the age of just 11 he worked in his first film, Neel Kamal. Not
surprisingly, Raj Kapoor set up his own Studio and made his first
feature film (at 24), Aag, which was a huge success. This was followed
by "Barsaat" and "Shri 420".

Invariably all Raj Kapoor's films came with some serious
message and appealed to every section of society, particularly the
common man. Raj Kapoor was anguished by evil and inequitable world
order. In many of his films Raj Kapoor played vagabond or beggar like
figure who, despite all odds, could still be cheerful and honest. The
greatest achievement of Raj Kapoor as director and actor is that his
films were not only liked in India but also in other countries like
large parts of Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union.

Raj Kapoor was sensitive to the requirements
of film audiences. This was the main reason why he departed from his
early and favorite theme of portrayal of the problems of common man to
that of adolescent romance. After the failure of his ambitious "Mera
Naam Joker", Raj Kapoor gave more sensual shade to his
movies. This trend started with "Bobby" and continued up to "Ram
Teri Ganga Maili". Raj Kapoor is also credited with introducing
many new faces including his sons Rishi and Rajiv, Nimmi, Dimple
Kapadia, Zeenat Aman and Mandakini. Music directors Shankar-Jaikishan,
lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri also started off with Raj Kapoor films.

Raj Kapoor was born as Ranbir Raj Kapoor in Samandru, Peshawar
(now in Pakistan). He was son of actor Prithviraj Kapoor. He moved along
with his family to Mumbai in 1929. His carrier in the film industry
began as clapper boy and later as assistant to Kedar Sharma. Raj Kapoor
married Krishna, his father's second cousin, in the year 1946. Despite
being married Raj Kapoor also had a longtime romantic relationship with
actress Nargis during the fifties. Raj Kapoor died in 1988. At the time
of his death he had been working on the movie Henna (Indo-Pakistani love
story). Henna was later completed by his son Randhir Kapoor. Raj Kapoor
was given the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 1987, for lifetime commitment to
Indian cinema.